A Woman of Importance: The Knife Series by Shurooq Amin

Shurooq Amin is a multidisciplinary artist and Anglophone poet with a +3-decade career whose purpose is to instigate positive change in society. Her artwork has been consistently censored in her native Kuwait, and her work is banned on the false premises that it is “blasphemous” and encourages “immorality.” As such, she turned to NFTs as a platform for freedom from censorship and a gateway to creative autonomy.

Shurooq Amin got divorced at age 40, with four kids. Kuwait society shunned her, and it was a turning point in her life. She was a university professor of arts and poetry, but that didn’t matter. It was traumatic for her. To punish her for leaving him, her ex cut her off financially. She started putting her thoughts on paper, and her works became more personal and political.

It was at this time that she created the “It’s a Man’s World” series: 18 paintings portraying the hypocritical world of Arab men behind closed doors. Within hours, the police came into the gallery, threw paintings out, and threw people out. She was being investigated, and she got death threats on social media. She felt like a pariah, an outcast in her own country.

The next series she did was “Popcorn-o-graphic,” breaking stereotypes and making fun of taboo topics under Islamic governments. She was picked up by a gallery in Dubai and had auctions at Christie’s, the first time a Kuwait artist worked with the institution.

The opening was an immersive, multi-disciplinary, theatrical exhibition. Again, it was shut down. She spoke openly and defiantly on TV about the event. The investigation lasted one month before COVID hit, and then, stuck at home, Shurooq discovered NFTs.

She was the first and most fervent Kuwait artist to enter web3, and after numerous sold-out collections, Shurooq is spreading the word about this censorship-free art ecosystem back in her home country. Politically active to the core, Shurooq has cut off relations with OpenSea after the platform banned friends of hers who work from Iran, and 50% of all of her NFT sales go to Give, a gateway to registered, Kuwaiti charities, facilitating donations to those in need.

The Artist in Her Own Words

“I live in a region rampant with war and instability, where people are raised on hypocrisy and double standards; yet also wealth, luxury, entrepreneurship, warmth, and hospitality. My work reflects that socio-political dichotomy, albeit sarcastically, by holding up a mirror to society, loud and unequivocally clear, drawing people in and allowing them to open a dialogue.

“In 2012, when Kuwait authorities shut down my show “It’s a Man’s World,” they wanted to censor me as a woman and female artist. But I came back bolder than ever, and when the authorities shut down my 15th solo art exhibition again in January 2020 on the false premises that my work “encourages immorality,” I fought back peacefully with a collection of NFTs that can’t be censored by my government.

“I intend to affect social reform, instigate positive change, and break stereotypes of what it means to be a woman, artist, and mother. And I’m doing it all from the remoteness of my home in Kuwait, where I live alone with my four children, utilizing NFTs as a peaceful non-censorable weapon for freedom and autonomy.

“I’ve been a traditional artist for 30 years, and an NFT artist for 2 years. I have a Ph.D. in Ekphrasis. My work has won numerous awards over the years and has been published and anthologized internationally, and studied at universities. I have been a Guest Speaker, a judge, and a panel examiner at various universities and conferences. I was the first female Kuwaiti artist to be auctioned at Christie’s Auction house, the first female Kuwaiti artist to exhibit at the Venice Biennale, the first Kuwaiti artist to enter the world of NFTs, and have been listed as One of The Top Influential Arab Women in Web3, and one of the Top 50 GCC Women Leaders, as well as one of the 46 Most Inspirational People of Kuwait.”

The Drop — November 23, 2022

“A Woman of Importance,” as a title, is a twist on Oscar Wilde’s play “A Woman of No Importance” (1893), which satirized society’s morals and double standards with regard to men and women.

In 2012, I painted “A Man of No Importance,” in which I satirized the same for my Middle Eastern region, but ultimately making it backfire against men. That exhibition was shut down by Kuwait secret service, and my paintings were thereafter banned in my country.

Now, in 2022, with NFTs, I use the same analogy but to empower women. I utilize NFT technology for my fine art to escape censorship and get my message across to a wider, more global audience. My work has been written about in literary journals and articles and discussed in universities and conferences as the first art of its kind by a contemporary Arab artist to address homosexuality, adultery, religious hypocrisy, political corruption, gender roles & issues, child marriages, abuse, etc.

Ironically, the more they tried to silence me, the more I created, the bolder I became, and the more people saw my work. I intend to affect social reform, instigate positive change, and break stereotypes of what it means to be an Arab woman challenging the status quo, a single mother doing it all alone, and a fine artist facing censorship within the patriarchy.

Sunflower

Sunflower is basking in the sun, literally. She is in love with love. She opens herself up to love, like a flower blooming in the sun, opening wide like O’Keeffe’s flora. But she is not naive, she has strength, she has a weapon, she has history behind her, the future ahead of her, and the present beneath her.

Unlockable Content: “Nice Girl No More” Poem.

Editions: 1/1
Pricing: $300 reserve followed by a 24-hour auction

Piñata

Piñata carries her burdens in more ways than one. Her (disfigured) Shadow Self follows her as she uncomfortably attempts to destroy said burdens, responsibilities, societal expectations, familial obligations…

Will she succeed in exploding that baggage, or will there be more waiting for her on a beautiful platter?

Unlockable Content: “You Gave Me Sky” Poem.

Editions: 1/1
Pricing: $300 reserve followed by a 24-hour auction

Skybathing

Skybathing is coy, comfortable in her own skin, adores herself, and – in return – is adored. Wherever she goes, no matter how much trouble she gets into, there is cover for her; she feels protected. But is that protection feeble? Are there holes in her shelter, her bubble of trust? No matter, for she is bigger than all the troubles; she can sit on them and stab away, if she wants to.

Unlockable Content: “Hymen Secrets” Poem.

Editions: 1/1
Pricing: $300 reserve followed by a 24-hour auction

Molasses

Molasses has had enough! The very thing that is meant to clad her in modesty is the very thing that she will use against Them. She is owning her sexuality, her sensuality, her needs and wants, and will gouge an organ out of anybody that stands in her way. Yes, she loves sex, but she also loves sports. And breaking men’s hearts is her favorite sport! Can’t a woman be both athletic and sensual?

Unlockable Content: “Resurrection” Poem.

Editions: 1/1
Pricing: $300 reserve followed by a 24-hour auction

Pirouettes

Pirouettes has stained her tutu too many times: she falls in love with the wrong person (irrelevant of gender!), too many times. She cuts open pomegranates that are unripe or over-ripe, too many times! But she has Hope on her side (look at that beauty, after all). And she has a knife that she sharpens nightly, in the dark…They won’t see her coming…

Unlockable Content: “Pirouettes and Pomegranates” Poem.